10/02/06 "Information
Clearing House" -- --- “Imprisonment without trial, the use of
war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions . . .
and the deportation of whole populations – not only became common again, but
were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened
and progressive.”

George Orwell penned these words over five decades ago, yet the sentiments are
sadly germane to today’s “war on terror”. Israel and the United States, as
self-styled purveyors of democracy and freedom, have ironically fallen into
their own propaganda trap. In seeking to rationalize aggressions towards Arabs
and Muslims, collectively termed “terrorists”, both nations employ techniques
reminiscent of totalitarian regimes, and decry the “enemy” as fascist,
irrational “evildoers” naturally bent upon violence. To a certain extent, the
techniques succeeded. Inflammatory, racist, rhetoric cultivates a climate of
xenophobic paranoia. Entire groups are ostracized and reviled without just
cause. Recall how Nazism made scapegoats of minorities, most notably the Jews.
Today we have the vaguely defined “terrorist”. What is a “terrorist”? Someone,
anyone, who loathes freedom, liberty, the God given pursuit of materialism, and
democracy as practiced by George W. Bush with the assistance of the Patriot Act.

As George W. Bush and the Neoconservatives make liberal use of the term
“Islamofascists”, it may be useful to examine fascism and totalitarian
governments more closely. Fascist regimes espouse state control over the
political, social, cultural and economic expressions of society, subverting
individuality and criticism for the benefit of the ruling elite, in whose hands
all power rests. There is a deliberate attempt to “dumb down” the populace by
means of indoctrination via media and the educational system; disseminated
information as mere sound bites supporting the state’s established ideology.
Schools discourage dissent and creative thinking. The state is thus free to act
with impunity.

The Israeli government, military, and media refuse to put the face of humanity
onto the Arab “enemy”: after the unjustified, brutal invasion of Lebanon during
the summer of 2006, did Israelis see images of dismembered Lebanese infants and
children or Arabs chanting “death to Israel”? Palestinians, suffering under
illegal occupation, endure dehumanization for the sake of political ends. Who
speaks for them outside of a few, often reviled dissenters? Israel reserves the
right to arbitrarily seize and detain inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank,
regardless of age or gender. Palestinians can be held for 12 days without being
informed of charges against him/her, then either released, charged, or sent to a
detention centre. Such centres can hold detainees without legal representation
for up to 180 days if deemed a threat to the state. Physical and/or
psychological torture, admissible in Israeli courts, is the norm. Inmates endure
inhumane conditions, deprived of basic human rights, and all too frequently die
in custody. Israel’s practice of administrative detention and mass arrests,
considered collective punishment, contravenes Article 33 of the 4th Geneva
Convention and thus, international law. Neither detainee nor lawyer, if one is
fortunate enough to obtain counsel, may see the evidence against the accused (
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/factsheet_prisoners.htm ). Justice
is indeed blind, at least in one eye.

One must not punish the many for the sins of the few. Indeed, when a state
collectively, indiscriminately, levies accusations and attacks not only
individuals but also identifiable groups, society’s ethical balance suffers. The
current US administration, notwithstanding protestations of democracy,
consistently undermines freedom of expression and assembly by enacting laws that
erode the Constitution and established international conventions. This
president, perhaps the worst in US history, is determined to centralize power
and sweeping authority into a narrow, neo-conservative base, endangering the
right of dissent. “You are either with us or with the terrorists” is George W.
Bush’s oft-repeated mantra. In a world of nuanced complexities, such black and
white, primitive rhetoric insults the intellect of thoughtful, concerned
citizens. The dignity of the individual must be balanced, at all costs, with
legitimate issues of national and global security.

The ill-named Patriot Act, condemned by Amnesty International (
http://www.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/patriotact/ ) enacted October of 2001,
which allows the government unprecedented power to access medical records, book
borrowing habits, tax records, search and seizure, erodes civil rights in both
the United States and internationally. However, even as the Patriot Act
restricts the rights of non-citizens, legislation (S.3930) enacted (passed
65-34) on September 28 of 2006 increases government ability to curtail the
rights of American citizens as well. Disingenuously referencing detainees of
Guantanamo Bay, this new bill allows the government, for little or no reason, to
round up native-born Americans and hold them indefinitely, without charge, and
without access to legal representation, in military prisons. Once suspected of
being an enemy combatant via secret committee – which could mean giving to a
Middle East based charitable fund – one is denied habeas corpus. In addition,
S.3930 allows the executive branch to weaken the fundamental protections offered
in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions: the president can now
unilaterally direct the scope, nature, and severity of punishment. Thus, despite
protesting, “the United States does not torture” after the Abu Ghraib fiasco,
George W. Bush now reserves the right to detain and abuse without due process
anyone he decrees an “evildoer”, whether American citizen or hapless foreigner.
Note the tragedy of Maher Arar: a Canadian citizen, deported to Syria by the
United States, tortured for ten months, until cleared of any wrongdoing. Will he
demand redress from the Canadian and US governments? We do not know. And what of
Jose Padilla, imprisoned for three years before being charged? It is worth
remembering a provision of S.3930 grants immunity to George W. Bush for war
crimes.

Following the sterling example set by the Israeli government, S.3930 renders
admissible any testimony extracted under torture, and enables trials to begin
even before a thorough investigation of the alleged crime has occurred, thus
jeopardizing the fundamental “innocent until proven guilty” concept embedded in
our legal system. As well, the bill removes the necessity of a speedy trial,
opening the door to lengthy incarcerations, all for the sake of national
security interests.

Basic human and civil rights are tertiary considerations, it seems, when nations
feel the nameless, shapeless horror of paranoid excess. Terrorism is a
psychological concept, immune to arrest, detainment, torture, bombs, troops,
tanks, and weaponry; concrete mechanisms cannot slay mental demons. There is no
black. There is no white. There is no moral certitude as evinced by this
president and his government. History and humanity must guide us: we must look
into the eyes of this seeming “enemy” and see ourselves through a glass darkly.
Do otherwise and Orwell’s hellish 1984 becomes a twenty first century nightmare
without the relief of a closing page.

Irene Rheinwald <i.rheinwald@videotron.ca> is a historian, writer, artist and
human rights activist affiliated with PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity), a
group based in Montreal. She is a former social worker and resides in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada.